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Why Sin Cannot be Condoned By State
Nov 24th, 2009
CommentaryWND - Joseph Farah
Categories: Commentary;Exhortation;Moral Decline

Homosexual behavior has been successfully marketed as a "rights" issue.

For instance, if you dare to oppose homosexual marriage, even though the vast majority of Americans do and have demonstrated in referendum after referendum, those in the public eye run the risk of vilification and ostracism for articulating such positions.

On Friday, more than 150 Christian leaders, most of them conservative evangelicals and traditionalist Roman Catholics, issued a joint declaration reaffirming their opposition to homosexual marriage on the basis of protecting religious freedom.

While I agree that government's granting of special "rights" based on aberrant sexual behavior is a religious freedom issue, it's not the main reason for concern by Christians and Jews.

The Bible clearly identifies homosexual behavior, as opposed to homosexual thoughts or predilections, as sin.

The issue Christians and Jews should be focused upon is whether it can ever be acceptable for the government to condone sin – or, worse yet, encourage it by making it a "right."

I don't believe government can do that without dire consequences.

In Romans 1:18-32, a Hebrew scholar named Shaul, known to Christians as the Apostle Paul, wrote the following:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

What is he saying here?

He's saying something to which every Christian, every Jew and every American should pay close attention:

• God has revealed to all men the difference between right and wrong. You may not like God's rules, but we are all without excuse as to what those rules are.

• If you don't obey God's rules, your heart becomes darkened to the truth. You might think you know better than God, but you are actually a fool if you do.

• When a whole society rejects the One True God and begins worshipping false gods, it opens the society up to judgment.

• Those judgments include the following: more unrighteous behavior, sexual immorality, meanness, greed, envy, violence, conflict, lies, gossip, hate for God, pride, self-centeredness, mercilessness and disrespect for parents by children. Notice that No. 1 on that list is homosexuality. However, also notice, it's not just homosexuality, but an increase in those who take pleasure in the exhibition of homosexual behavior that comes as a judgment on a society rejecting God.

Does this sound like any societies you know?

America is being judged by God.

The biblical proof text is Romans 1.

I am not stating the obvious here – that individuals will be judged for their behavior in the afterlife. What I am saying is we are already being judged in the here and now for rejecting God and one of those judgments is the explosion of homosexuality in our culture and the absolute explosion in the number of people accepting it, condoning it and even rejoicing in it.

Whether you are a believer or not, this affects you. It shapes the world in which you and your children live. If you think your society is depraved now, you have seen nothing yet.

There's plenty of empirical evidence to prove it even to the most skeptical observer.

When societies accept, condone and embrace sin, they are judged.

That's the forceful case that thoughtful Christians need to make in our world. Why? Because it's truth. Why? Because it's self-evident. Why? Because it leads people to God. Why? Because we can all live a happier and more fulfilled life on this planet if we listen to our Creator and obey his rules.

The founders of this once-great country understood that "rights" came not from government, but from God. They are unalienable. They cannot be granted or taken away by man.

While it is certainly true that God gave us free will, he also warned us all of the judgments that come with certain kinds of behavior.

Our world is a laboratory for proof that God exists, is sovereign and means what He says.

It's time for people of faith to be bold in their proclamations of that truth and, without being shamed, to call a sin a sin.

No Further! Christians Draw Battle Line in Culture War
Nov 24th, 2009
Daily NewsWND - Drew Zahn
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning;Moral Decline

Declaration warns of civil disobedience over life, marriage, religious liberty

Over 150 Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical Christian leaders have signed the Manhattan Declaration, a pledge in defense of life, religious liberty and traditional marriage, a line in the sand of the culture war warning that Christians will resort to civil disobedience if necessary rather than retreat from these three moral principles.

"The Manhattan Declaration is a wake-up call – a call to conscience – for the church," writes Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries and co-author of the declaration. "It is also crystal-clear message to civil authorities that we will not, under any circumstances, stand idly by as our religious freedom comes under assault."

According to ManhattanDeclaration.org, over 47,000 others in the last few days have added their signatures to the list of 152 Christian leaders who have committed to the pledge.

The website states that the declaration calls upon all fellow citizens to join in defending "fundamental truths about justice and the common good," namely:

• The sanctity of human life
• The dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
• The rights of conscience and religious liberty.

"Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the wellbeing of society, they are inviolable and nonnegotiable," the website states. "Because they are increasingly under assault from powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled today to speak out forcefully in their defense, and to commit ourselves to honoring them fully no matter what pressures are brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them."

The language of the Manhattan Declaration itself, however, is even more bold:

"We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right – and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation – to speak and act in defense of these truths," the declaration states. "We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence."

At a D.C. press conference last week, Dr. Robert George of Princeton University, one of three leaders who drafted the declaration, affirmed that if laws require Christian doctors and hospitals to perform abortion or euthanasia, if the government demands churches bless homosexual 'marriage' or any other dictates attempt to force Christians to act against their moral convictions, there will be no compromise. Recalling the actions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. years before, George said there may even be call for Christians to engage in civil disobedience:

"We hope and pray that it does not come to this," George said, "that the impositions on conscience will not require anybody to practice civil disobedience. But if it comes to it, as it came to it for Dr. King on the great issue of racial justice, then we have to be prepared to make sacrifices."

Art's Commentary....I applaud these men for their stand. I believe this is an issue for every individual Christian to take a firm stand on and that we do not need to join with other groups to do this. It is individual commitment that is important and we do not need  a large group to hide behind.

NATO Bucks Trend, Views Israeli Army As Model for Modern Warfare
Nov 24th, 2009
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

While the nations of the world, armed with the Goldstone Report, accuse the Israel Defense Forces of being a repressive army that routinely commits war crimes, the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was in Israel last week to study the tactics and methods of the IDF.

The Chairman of NATO's Military Committee, Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, said during his two-day visit that he was studying the IDF in order to gain a better understanding of how to deal with the ongoing war in Afghanistan.

Adm. Di Paola and Israeli army chief Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi also discussed upgrading ties between NATO and the IDF, including plans for an Israeli warship to join a routine patrol of the eastern Mediterranean by NATO naval forces.

The timing of Adm. Di Paola's visit was significant in that is coincided with pressure from some NATO members and allies, in particular Turkey, to downgrade relations with Israel in light of alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Israeli Ambulances Need Police Escort in Jerusalem
Nov 24th, 2009
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Anti-Israel

Three local human rights groups were up in arms this week over a new directive preventing Israeli ambulances from entering Arab-dominated neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem without a police escort.

The three groups - Adalah, Physicians for Human Rights - Israel and the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights - sent a letter to Israel's Health Ministry and the Jerusalem Police Department insisting that the directive is a violation of human rights. They also claimed that patient privacy was being violated by having police officers accompany medical crew.

The letter cited several instances where ambulances waited on the outskirts of Arab neighborhoods for long periods of time, often resulting in the worsening of the patient's condition before a police escort arrived. In other cases, police refused to provide an escort at all, citing danger to their forces.

The new directive was put in place in response to regular Arab attacks on Jewish ambulance crews. Often ambulances are called to treat the wounded resulting from a family feud, which are common in Arab communities. Agitated combatants quickly bring the Israelis into the conflict. Other times, the ambulance crews are attacked simply for being Jews.

Israel Bombs Gaza in Response to Rocket Fire
Nov 24th, 2009
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Israeli warplanes early Tuesday morning struck Hamas arms depots in northern and southern Gaza in response to Palestinian rocket fire on southern Israel a day earlier.

During the early evening hours on Monday, a Palestinian rocket fired from Hamas-ruled Gaza landed between two communities in southern Israel, causing no injuries or damage.

The Israeli response came during hours when the terrorist arms depots were devoid of personnel.

The Israeli army confirmed the aerial strikes later on Tuesday, and insisted that it "will not tolerate attacks from terror organizations on the State of Israel's territory and will continue to operate with a firm hand against any attempt to disrupt the calm in Israel's towns and the south of the country."

Islamic Extremists Execute Young Convert in Somalia
Nov 24th, 2009
Daily NewsCompass Direct News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

NAIROBI, Kenya, November 23 – Islamic extremists controlling part of the Somali capital of Mogadishu this month executed a young Christian they accused of trying to convert a 15-year-old Muslim to Christianity. Members of the Islamic extremist group al Shabaab had taken 23-year-old Mumin Abdikarim Yusuf into custody on Oct. 28 after the 15-year-old boy reported him to the militants, an area source told Compass. Yusuf’s body was found on Nov. 14 on an empty residential street in Mogadishu, with sources saying the convert from Islam was shot to death, probably some hours before dawn. Al Shabaab’s accusations against Yusuf had led the extremist group to raid Yusuf’s home in Holwadag district, Mogadishu, sources said. After searching his home, militia didn’t find anything relating to Christianity but still took him into custody. Before Yusuf was executed by two shots to the head, reports filtered in to the Compass source that he had been badly beaten and his fingers broken as the Islamists tried to extract incriminating evidence against him and information about other Christians. The source later learned that Yusuf’s body showed signs of torture; all of his front teeth were gone, and some of his fingers were broken, he said. “Our brother Yusuf has been murdered,” the source told Compass. “His body was dumped in Yaqshid district of Mogadishu.”

Gilad Shalit Becomes Pawn in Palestinian Power Struggle
Nov 24th, 2009
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Newspapers in Israel on Monday were bursting with news that a prisoner swap deal with Hamas that would see abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit finally released was just days away. But Arab media outlets revealed that the purported deal may have a lot more to do with internal Palestinian politics.

According to Israeli reports, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to release nearly all of the terrorists demanded by Hamas in exchange for Shalit. The deal was reportedly being held up by squabbling over just a few names.

Israeli organizations that represent the victims of Palestinian terror responded by preparing Supreme Court petitions and other protests against releasing dangerous terrorists who will inevitably go on to kill more Israelis.

Meanwhile, Saudi and Kuwait newspapers ran stories suggesting that the alleged deal was actually a power play by Hamas. According to the reports, Hamas had agreed to reach a swap deal with Israel if Egypt altered the terms of reconciliation efforts between the terror group and Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority.

If true, that could mean a new Palestinian unity government in which Hamas would play a very significant, and perhaps even overriding, role. Israel has vowed in the past that it would not be party to peace talks with a Palestinian Authority ruled by Hamas. But with US President Barack Obama so determined to oversee a peace deal at any cost, Hamas may be banking on the idea that Israel would have no choice but to legitimize the terror group by negotiating with it.

Christian Zionist Calls the Temple Mount Conflict a Warning Sign
Nov 24th, 2009
Daily NewsYahoo News
Categories: Commentary;Prophecy;The Nation Of Israel

Recent events in Jerusalem are signs of coming conflict according to Christian Zionist Les Lawrence.

Sandpoint (PRWEB) November 17, 2009 -- When violent confrontation between Muslims and Jews in late October reignited on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Les Lawrence of Elisha Vision , called the incident “a warning sign of the end times.”

According to Robert Berger writing from Jerusalem (10/25/09), the conflict began when young Muslims, incited by senior members of the Islamic Movement, barricaded themselves inside the Al Aqsa Mosque in protest of Jews praying on the Temple Mount. Berger wrote that the “Israeli Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen blamed Islamic leaders in Israel for fomenting the violence.”

The Associated Press reported that Israeli police fired stun grenades in a face-off with “masked Palestinians hurling stones and chairs outside the Holy Land’s most volatile shrine.”

In all, 26 people were injured including 9 officers and 21 Palestinians were arrested.

“Virtually all Jews reject the concept that only Muslims can pray on the Mount because it is Holy to them,” Lawrence said in an interview. “For a Jew to be banned from praying on the site is like banning Catholics from praying at the Vatican.”

In an analysis provided by Matthew Wagner to the Jerusalem Post (10/26/09) Israel’s sovereignty over the Temple Mount and east Jerusalem resulted from the Six Day War in 1967. The right to pray in the Al Aqsa Mosque was granted to Palestinians by then Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol. Wagner cited Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein, Director of Elijah Interfaith Institute as saying, “We are suffering today for the wrong policies we adopted after the Six Day War.”

Lawrence said, “Virtually all Jews reject the concept that only Muslims can pray on the Mount because it is Holy to them. For a Jew to be banned from praying on the site is like banning Catholics from praying at the Vatican.”

“Jerusalem is considered a Holy City by all 3 of the world’s monotheistic religions: Jews, Muslims and Christians,” he said. “Virtually all Palestinian Muslims believe East Jerusalem will be their capital once Israel is overcome and a majority [of Muslims believes all of Jerusalem and all of Israel will one day be theirs.”

Lawrence pointed to a statement uttered 4 years ago by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth, saying it was "because Israel sits in the middle of the face of Islam like a boil. Islam’s goal of world domination is contradicted by Israel’s very existence.”

Lawrence considers himself a voice of Christian Zionists worldwide. He is author of Prophesy to the Land, a book published in 1994 about the key role of Jerusalem in the last days. His newest book, Generation Last, is due in January 2010.

Lawrence said that Isaiah centuries ago wrote that Satan’s ultimate goal would be to set up his throne on the Temple Mount and claim it as his own just before the end."

That Old Testament prophecy is significant according to Lawrence because, “A series of last-day battles leading to Armageddon could be triggered by Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear reactors, by a Palestinian intifada on the Mount, by a blow-up in Gaza or the West Bank by Hamas, or by an attack from Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“The point is we’ve got to wake up. The bell has rung,” said Lawrence. “I believe the coming fight has already started and is unstoppable. We’re seeing many signs of the coming world conflict as prophesized by Isaiah nearly 2500 years ago.”

A US senator is calling for a congressional investigation into the UN climate change research
Nov 24th, 2009
News UpdateJimmy DeYoung
Categories: Jimmy DeYoung News

Senator James Enoff from Oklahoma is calling for a congressional investigation into the research that has been used by the UN in its campaign to bring about change in international law as it relates to the global warming and the so-called climate change problems in our world.

The senator said that his call for an investigation into "climate gate" as he calls it, was motivated by the recent report of computer hackers obtaining 160 megabytes of emails from the climate research unit at a university in England.

These emails revealed that many scientific researchers and policy advocates are purported to have discussed the destruction and the hiding of data on global warming and climate change that did not support their global warming claims.

Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News

The possibility that the scientific researchers on global warming have been destroying evidence that does not support their global warming claims draws attention to an effort to manipulate the world, a move that has great prophetic significance.

Led by the former Vice President of the US, Al Gore, the so-called "scientific" world has been developing a global warming crisis that has manipulated the world into making ready to give way to a global governance or a one world government.

Biblically, global warming is impossible according to Colossians 1:16-17 where the Apostle Paul writes that by Jesus Christ were all things created in this world, Colossians 1:16. Verse 17 tells us that by Jesus Christ everything is held together, no global warming unless the Lord sends it.

Prophetically, that is the case. There will be ecological judgment on the earth in the future Tribulation Period. According to Revelation 8 and 16, the oceans will turn to blood, all the fish in the sea will die, all the grass and trees on the earth will be burned up and there will be much more ecological judgment on this earth.

There may be no global warming, but Bible prophecy will be fulfilled.